Don't Say Death's the End
by Blinkandyoullmissit
Summary: Just because they died, doesn't mean they stay dead forever. After all, if you can set people on fire, then it certainly isn't beyond you to come back from the dead. But were you ever there in the first place? AU pre-epilouge, after Mockingjay.
1. Chapter 1

Everything was peaceful. Everything was calm.

The rebellion was over.

The games were gone, forever, or so they hoped.

It was a year or so after the rebellion was won. Katniss had just returned from a hunt, whilst Peeta was icing a cake, making it look almost as if a fresh layer of snow had settled over the cake. Every detail that one would normally dissmiss in their pure excitement - it had been noticed and replicated.

You couldn't say it wasn't impressive.

"Peeta? I'm just going to take a shower, got a lot of blood over myself on a kill. Stupid eagle ruining every kill as soon as I got them..." Across the hallways Katniss' voice echoed. They'd moved in with each other, not because of sexual desires as such, but more to the fact that neither of them could live without each other. Almost a spiritual bond... not saying they didn't also have a romantic relationship. Quite clearly, from the way the reacted with one another, they were in an established relationship that was firmly in place.

"Okay, Katniss!" It was a mudane day for the two Hunger Games victors, the Mockingjay and the boy with the bread. They didn't need to fear anymore, though. There was nothing more to fear. Panem was safe, now. Panem was equal.

It was later on when they were sat, curled up on the couch, that a knock was heard on the Mellark-Everdeen residence.

"I'll get it!" Leaping up and holding the ever-warrior down, Peeta wandered idly up to the door.

"Alright, you get it then, Pita Bread."

"Nice name. I like it. Pita and Catnip Bread, joined together in Holy Majoly." Katniss threw a pillow in his general direction, even though he had left the room.

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

"One day I will.

"No you won't, now be quiet, I'm talking to someone," whilst they had been in a flirting competition, Peeta had unlocked the door and started opening it, all while looking towards his soul-mate who threw around cushions and was also the symbol of a mass rebellion. The scene that befell him made him want to lose his breakfast, while his mouth hung open in shock. "Katniss, I think you should really come over and look at this right now. Holy flip... aren't you meant to be dead?"

"What is it... Oh my god..."

**Earlier**

"_Please don't die on me out here, hun'. Wait 'till we get to Twelve - look, we can see Victor's village in the distance. See, see?" He held her out so she was still supported, but she could see the houses in the distance. _

"_Ci-ci..." Her brain only partly worked - she would never be the same again. Still, they tried to be unaffected by it._

"_Yeah, I'm still here. Just about." They were both bloodstained, and she had a roughly stitched up hole in her head, over her brain. _

_A bullet-hole._

_He was limping, very obviously, and there was an everlasting blood-trail behind them. How on earth they'd got this far in the first place was just due to luck and disguise and an idioctic train-guard who had been easy to fool. Neither could hang on for much longer, as he held her mostly, and she stared blankly, hardly attempting to move. Both were still experiencing worlds of pain, and she often blacked out, leaving him to carry her. They went to the safest place they could remember. District 12. Katniss, Peeta, and maybe Haymitch. The remains of 12, anyway. Victors village was still standing tall. _

_That was a relief._

"_Now, just hold on until we get to the fire-kids." The stylists nickname for their little beauties made her give him a ghost of a smile - which, in itself, was extremely hard work and a lucky saved memory, considering her condition. "Don't you dare die on me, you're the only one good enough to keep me from setting myself alight because it sounds so very fun, because I'm a madman, right?" He started coughing up a bit of blood, which triggered her too, so they had to momentarily stop to spurt blood everywhere. Eventually, they continued, and finally, they were nearly at 12. The never-ending crawl along the street was literally a crawl by that point - both were exhausted beyond their minds, him especially, and could've easily fainted right then and there, but, having the will that was stronger than diamonds and hotter than fire, they continued right up to their saviours front door. Suprisingly, no-one had noticed them yet. But, by then, it had become all too much for her as she fell, unconcious yet still graceful, into his arms. He was on the verge of her state too, as black spots swarmed his vision when he knocked whilst holding her in his other arm, before cradling her to his chest protectively. How they survived was a miracle, but not one to dwell upon now, as he heard the familiar voices of the teenagers. It was Peeta who held open the door to salvation, Peeta who took one look at them before cursing under his breath and yelling for his love, Katniss. When they stood there, Cinna looked at his close-friend, Katniss. He couldn't even hear them anymore._

"... Cinna! Portia!" Katniss breathed out as she looked at the two bloody, battered, one unconcious, stylist partners. Her stylist and friend, Cinna, blinked, opened his mouth as if to say something... then promptly passed out on the spot. Rushing forward, Peeta grabbed him, whilst Katniss took Portia from Cinna's arms.

"Oh god, we need to get a doctor, and fast!" Peeta's wits had returned after seeing the shock of the dead return to being the alive - one of their deaths even included a broadcast execution. Who survives that? There would be time for that later, time for that once the hurt had treatment.

"I'll run to the doctors'. You keep an eye on these two. Make sure neither die. Please don't let them die." Almost as if comforting herself, Katniss ran to the door, while Peeta nodded and checked the injured pair as well he could. Which wasn't fantastic, but good enough, rest assured.

"Go, girl on fire. Run like a blaze." Peeta looked and spotted Cinna, swimming in and out of conciousness, looking gently towards her with a fading grin, before he was dragged back to the land of unconciousness.

"Go, Katniss, now!" Peeta firmly instructed, for once being the leader. There was no objection as Katniss ran out. "Now, Cinna and Portia, you were both dead. So how did you both get here?..." He mused to the air. It was impossible, ressurection.

Wasn't it?

**a/n: PLEASE REVIEW! I got, like, NO reviews for my other story (which was admittedly bad) but please review this one. I wrote it in third person, which sometimes goes slightly** **into first person, but not usually. I wrote this as a pre-epilouge, AU after Mockingjay (I'll rewrite the epilouge at the end of the story, if I remember). Basically, I was not satisfied with Cinna and Portia just dying, end of. No, there is no way IN HELL they will just DIE like that. So I thought up this storyline, thought 'why not?' and wrote it. Please review or I'll eat all the tickets to the Hunger Games movie. Just sayin'...**


	2. Chapter 2

"They'll both be fine, physically. As to their mental health... I'm afraid I can assure you nothing, judging by what you told me and when I saw her 'execution', they will be scarred by experiences like that for a long time. But I guess it's no different to you, Mr Mellark, especially after your hijacking. I doubt they've been hijacked - I would be suprised if they haven't been totured to an inch of their lives'. There's nothing you can do, apart from offer them assurances and help them. He's going to have an easier time, physically, than her... though I fear his mental scars will go much deeper. She's got serious brain-damage from being shot - I'm afraid she won't ever be quite the same - and for a while she'll have trouble talking, walking, eating, general activities we take for granted. She'll improve eventually, but she'll need help for a few months. I'll check up on them in a months time. You'll be capable enough with them, make sure they're fed, rest a lot, keep them occupied. Stylists, right? Just leave them a sketchpad and whatever they need. And don't leave them alone for the first three to four weeks, just in case..."

"Thank you, Doctor Swayel." The old lady, who wasn't a capitol citizen by the looks of it, nodded, before trotting out in a mouse-like manner. She almost didn't fit her look, with her white-blond her, wrinkled-paper-like skin, yet extremely tall frame. Katniss was almost glad to see the back of her, even though she'd been treating Peeta and her stylists for the past three days, without of which both would've died. She whiled away the time hunting for all she was worth, not wanting to think about it. Thinking about pain wouldn't stop it, so she distracted herself. Days later, there was finally some movement and conciousness from the fashion-duo. Both Peeta and Katniss were there at the time

"Muuruuurrrffffffgh..." A groan came from Cinna's mouth, before suddenly, without warning, his head shot up.

He screamed.

It was the most horrifying thing Katniss had ever heard - calm, cool, collected Cinna in more fear than she'd ever seen him. She couldn't bear to think what might've made him scream out like that. It was too awful to bear. Then, he stopped, and looked over vaugely in the adolescents' direction.

"Katniss?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Are you okay?"

"I - Portia?"

"Alive. Brain damage. Asleep."

"Nggh-nnnn-o..." Unnoticed to everyone, Portia had woken up and seemed to be partly understanding the conversation, which was quite impressive considering her state of mind.

"Portia, we're here now. We did it. We got out." Cinna was obviously speaking to Portia alone, disregarding the overlookers.

"Peet-p-peeta? Mock-j-j-ay?"

"Yes. The rebellion won, remember?"

"Ye-yeag-h." Slowly, her eyelids began to slide closed. She was too tired from the effort of speaking, though Cinna was afraid she was losing herself to death:

"No, don't die, PORTIA DON'T DIE!" Reaching out for her, Peeta had to restrain Cinna whilst Katniss reassured him

"It's okay, Cinna, she's just sleeping. Not dying. She's okay."

"Oh... alright. Sorry for my outbursts?"

"You were traumatised. You haven't tried to kill me yet. Better than him, eh?" Katniss poked Peeta lightly, who stuck his tounge out and faked mock-hurt. "Cinna, no offence or anything, but you died, and so did Portia. Everyone say Portia die. There was no way she could've survived if the whole of Panem was watching."

"Death-faking? That wasn't hard... I don't think... I took a drug which stopped my pulse. They thought I was dead, and chucked me out. We designed a comb for Portia that fitted with her hair perfectly, and covered most of the back of her head, where we'd been informed was where she'd be shot. The bullet wound was softened a bit, just enough to keep her alive. She had the same drug bare minutes before execution - they presumed her dead, and chucked her out at the same time as me. A fellow rebel stylist, who died soon after, gave us the reviving drug and helped us to the Capitol train station. We were able to fool enough people and get here, though we had to walk from 10. By the time we were at 10, the rebellion was won. We had to walk across the rest. We eventually got here." Cinna was dropping off now, and nothing Katniss or Peeta could do would stop it, so they let him off into the lands of dream, before Peeta murmured

"You believe it?"

No fear or hesitation in her voice, "I know Cinna. And I know that was the truth."

**a/n: Disclaimer for whole story: Sadly, I own NUFFIN', apart from any future OC's. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS LOVE YOU! Please review... No wait... Review OR BE EATEN BY THE MUTTS! Okay, bye bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Little by little, Cinna and Portia began to regain their physical health, spending most of their time asleep in the Everdeen-Mellark residence. Katniss found herself having to watch over them more often than Peeta, who was busy at the bakery the majority of the time. They also helped her substitute a little bit for the death of the one person she knew she cared about: Prim. Prim, the 13-year old girl from district 12 who had done nothing wrong, and was in danger because of her older sister's rebellion.

Prim died because of the rebellion. Katniss' rebellion.

Prim was innocent.

Prim died.

Katniss was the rebellion leader, convictable of so many deaths.

Katniss was alive.

That wasn't fair.

Katniss found herself looking out of the window at her little sister's memorial Primroses. "Thinking about her isn't going to help you, Katniss. You know she would've wanted you to move on and be happy." Portia had managed not one, but two fully coherent sentences!

"You're getting better?"

"No. Still hell in my head. But I'll live." Managing a brief smirk, Portia slowly moved herself as to face Katniss.

"You're speaking a lot better. You aren't stuttering as much."

"No. I'm not, aren't I? That's n-nice, I g-guess. Oh d-damn, the st-t-t-tut-tter is b-bac-ck." Slowly, Portia's eyes began to slip closed once more, but not before she finished, "I m-met-t-t her once. P-p-prim-m. She was the swee-ee-t-test-t girl I've ever m-met... T-tell Cin-n-nna I said h-hi." After that, she succumbed to the darkness, leaving Katniss alone again.  
>Quietly, Katniss grabbed some paper and a pen, wrote a quick message, and left the house.<p>

'Just going out for a bit. Don't wait.'

In the forest, Katniss found her old bow. Though she didn't hunt as often, she still found it helped her clear her mind, or calm herself. It was a cloudy day, with a cool breeze rushing through the forest.

"Found you." Cinna's unmistakable voice met her ears just before she span round to face him.

"Damnit, Cinna! You scared off the game."

"Am I meant to be sorry?"

"Maybe."

"Well, I'm not."

"How did you know I was out here?" Cinna started to walk-crawl up, through the forest, to face Katniss. When he was a few metres away, he replied:

"I always knew you were a hunter. That's why the rebellion chose you. And you wouldn' be going to see Haymitch, or down to Peeta."

"I might!"

"A drunkard, or someone who kept trying to kill you less than a year ago?"

"Good point." Suddenly shushing Cinna, Katniss passed him a small stone and indicated for him to throw it at a passing bunch of birds. When the birds were distracted, Katniss shot one down, before running to grab it. After she got back, she smiled at Cinna, who looked rather pleased with himself.

"I've never hunted before." He murmured.

"I've been hunting all my life. How did you survive in the woods, anyway?"

"I stole food from the Capitol. And we starved." The light mood suddenly ruined by the dark answer, they started back towards District 12.

**a/n: Okay, I really wasn't sure when to end, but I left that as a last, darker note to this chapter. Please Rate and Review - it makes my day! Thank you and good night!**


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